A pretty major part of staying safe while driving is keeping your eyes on the road. When you need to take a call, switch playlists, or change the destination you’re navigating to, that’s not always easy. We should all pull over when these jobs need doing (or get a passenger to do them), but that doesn’t always happen.
By using your voice to interact with Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, you can get directions, look up information, and control media playback without moving your hands from the wheel or your eyes away from what’s ahead of you. Here’s how it’s done when you’re connected to Android Auto or Apple CarPlay in your vehicle.
Speaking to Android Auto
Enabling hands-free activation on Android Auto via a Pixel phone. (David Nield)
There are a few ways to get Android Auto to listen to you. One is to tap the microphone icon that appears at the side of the interface, alongside the list of recently used apps. Another is to press the voice command button on your car’s steering wheel, if there is one. It looks different in some cars, but it typically shows an illustration of a person’s face in profile, mouth open, with sound waves coming out of their mouth. (Check your vehicle’s documentation if you’re not sure.)
If you want to go completely hands-free and use a “Hey Google” prompt to get Android Auto to listen, you need to make sure voice prompts are enabled on your phone. From Settings, pick Connected devices > Connection preferences (Google Pixel phones) or just Connected devices (Samsung Galaxy phones), then Android Auto.
Choose ‘Hey Google’ detection and you’ll see two toggle switches—so you can either enable hands-free voice activation on your phone all of the time, or only when you’re driving. Note that if you haven’t already done so, enabling this feature will require you to record a few audio speech samples so your phone knows how to recognize you when you’re talking and making requests.
Speaking to Apple CarPlay
Enabling hands-free activation on Apple CarPlay via an iPhone. (David Nield)
As with Android Auto, there may be a voice command button on your car’s steering wheel that you can press before talking to Siri on Apple CarPlay. It depends on the make, model, and age of your vehicle, so if the voice control button doesn’t appear obvious, you may have to check in the manual to find it. (Look for the button with a picture of a person speaking.)
On the actual CarPlay interface, you can get Siri to listen up at any time by pressing and holding the small icon in the lower corner of the interface. It might look like a series of eight squares, or a square next to line dashes, depending on the CarPlay view you’re currently in. Lift your finger when you see the Siri orb pop up.
For full hands-free access, you can also just say “Hey Siri” or “Siri,” the same as you would when talking to your phone. To make sure this is going to work, open Settings on your iPhone, and tap Siri & Search: Select Listen for to choose your activation commands, and turn on the Allow Siri When Locked toggle switch.
Voice Commands
Google Assistant enabled on Android Auto. (David Nield)
Siri enabled on Apple CarPlay. (David Nield)
The actual voice commands you can use are more or less the same across both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and can be phrased in several ways. Today’s digital assistants are smart enough to work out what you mean even if you don’t say exactly the right words in exactly the right order.
As long as you’ve got your car dashboard listening to you, using the steps above, you should be able to use these commands on either platform.
“Navigate to …” Use this to get turn-by-turn directions to a place. The fastest route is chosen by default, to save any more screen tapping, and it’ll replace any current routes.
“How long will it take to get to …” Use this command if you want to know the travel time to somewhere (like back home), without actually starting the route.
“Play songs by …” Queue up some music in the default music player on your phone. You can also ask for audio to be paused and restarted.
“How’s the weather looking later?” If you’re worried that rain or snow will impede your journey, use this voice command to find out.
“Remind me to … when I get home.” Both Google Assistant and Siri can be set up with reminders that will automatically pop up when you reach your home location.
“Read my messages.” Don’t risk looking at your phone screen when a message comes in while you’re driving. You can have it read out instead.
“Call …” You can place phone calls while you’re on the move as well, just add on the name of the contact you want to get in touch with.
Certain Android Auto and CarPlay dashboards enable you to interact more directly with the car, in terms of adjusting the heating or playing the car stereo. This requires the vehicle manufacturer to have added these integrations, so they may not be available in your car.
